A tunnel finisher is a machine to remove wrinkles from garments. Most garments are shipped by sea freight from the country of production. They get very wrinkled because of the box packing being used. In the receiving country they are unpacked and put on a clothes hanger. Those hangers are sent via automated transport through the tunnel with a speed up to 3000 garments per hour. It is also being used in laundries and dry cleaners to remove wrinkles from garments after washing or dry cleaning.
The machine processes each garment through several stages. First the garment passes through a steam chamber to make the fabric moldable. Then wrinkles are removed by a strong hot air flow alongside the garments. Finally the garment is dried by cooler air before it leaves the tunnel finisher.
Tunnel finishers can be grouped into two different classifications, "wide body" or "narrow body." "Wide body" machines are designed for high production finishing of blended garments wet-to-dry, damp-to-dry and or dry-to-dry. "Narrow body" machines are designed for shoulder-to-shoulder processing and are best suited for the dry-to-dry finishing of garments. However; they are capable of damp-to-dry finishing at slower production speeds. These units are ideal for dry cleaners, hotel laundries, institutional laundries and other on-premises laundry applications.